Through the olive trees

Iranian cinema in the last two decades of the twentieth century has proved to be one of few national cinemas offering an alternative to the dominance of Hollywood, both in terms of production and in terms of aesthetics. Kiarostami is one of the leading directors of post-revolutionary Iranian cinema and his work is intimately concerned with both the nature of human relationships and the power of cinema to influence and transform life. A film crew arrives in a small town devastated by a recent earthquake. Hossein, a young and homeless bricklayer is given a small role as a newly wed husband. The woman who is to play his wife is Tahereh, the girl he adores but who refuses to have anything to do with him. As the director attempts to get the two young people to play their roles in the script, Tahereh and Hossein enact their own drama and conflict in front of the camera. From this simple material, Kiarostami explores the tensions between men and women, reality and imagination, film and politics, and allows us as an audience to explore the ability of film as an art to seduce us even when it is lying to us. Without the use of special effects, big budgets or imaginary beings, “Through the Olive Trees” transports us to a magical world of human drama that Hollywood could not possibly emulate, no matter how much money or technology lies at its disposal.